Rahul may get another chance to prove himself

January 5, 2015

Sydney, Jan 5: If K L Rahul was looking for an assurance after essaying perhaps three of the worst shots by a debutant Test batsman, he would have found them in the words of the now-retired Test captain MS Dhoni shortly after the drawn Melbourne Test.

Rahul chance

“We are not deciding on him depending on just this one match, we will have to give him more matches and he is definitely someone who looks good,” he said when asked about what he made of Rahul’s debut.

You would have forgiven the right-hander when he first swept Nathan Lyon in the first innings and the resultant top-edge was floored by Peter Siddle.

You may blame it on nervous energy – it was a Boxing Day Test, the venue was the fabled Melbourne Cricket Ground where even empty seats intimidate you more than a full-house stadium in England or New Zealand, he was batting at No 6 instead of his usual opening slot and he had been handed a Test cap ahead of the experienced Suresh Raina.

When he repeated the same shot off the very next ball, this time to only get out, you may have thought he had suffered brain-freeze. If you were frustrated with the manner of his batting, you would have been seething in anger when he miscued a pull off Mitchell Johnson in the second innings. Rahul had been sent ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara at No 3 and he had thrown away a golden opportunity just like that.

It’s of course easy, and even justified to some extent, to get infuriated with his approach to batting but the team management may well give him another go for he is too good a player to be cast aside after just one bad show.

During India’s first practice session after the third Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, Rahul got another extended run in the ‘nets’ after starting with the first batch. After finishing with his batting stint, the 22-year-old had a long discussion with team director Ravi Shastri whose suggestions obviously carry a lot of weight in the dressing room. Often, what you see during India’s practice sessions is not what you get, but still it was an encouraging sign from the batsman’s point of view.

For those who have seen Rahul play for various age-group sides of Karnataka, his home State, it was bizarre to see him bat the way he did. It didn’t make any sense because it was just not him.

When he raked in over 1000 runs during Karnataka’s victorious Ranji Trophy campaign in the last season he hardly played a stroke in anger; even when he had gone past the three-figure mark on three occasions. He is a level-headed person and has an unflappable temperament. That’s why he has had so much success as an opener. Yes, he does like to keep himself busy but not necessarily by playing extravagant shots. Maybe, as Dhoni pointed out, he just wanted to play the release shot and get going.

“We shouldn’t really judge him on just one performance,” Dhoni had stressed. “He is someone who really looks very compact and good. And this is the era of cricketers where they want to play the shots to get out of pressure situations. It can be taken as a positive and also he is someone who loves playing his strokes, so overall I was quite happy with his approach. It didn’t pay him in this game but he is definitely someone for us to look ahead in the future,” he had reasoned.

Fair point. If those shots had come off well, people would have been appreciating his positive attitude for a debutant but the problem is when they don’t you look awful and you really have no excuse to offer. Rahul should back his ability and play his natural game which is to play the ball on its merit and not fall for the bait.

In the first innings, Steven Smith had brought the field up and asked Lyon to toss up the ball to lure the batsman into clearing the field and in the second innings Johnson perhaps played on his ego and did him in with a bouncer. Hopefully he would have learnt his lessons and bat more with some responsibility, if he gets another opportunity to play.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Shuttler HS Prannoy has hit out at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and has questioned the selection criteria for the Arjuna Award.

The shuttler has said that the players who have won nothing have been recommended, while the players who have medals to their credit have been snubbed.

His remarks come as BAI recommended doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men's singles player Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Award on Tuesday.

"Same old story. Guy who has Medals in CWG and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah #thiscountryisajoke," Prannoy tweeted.

Prannoy had been left out from the list last year as well and the shuttler had slammed the criteria then as well.

"If you ever want your name in the awards list, make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can't help it. Let go and just play until you can," Prannoy had tweeted last year.

Prannoy had won the mixed team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and he also has a men's singles bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships.

On Tuesday, the BAI has also recommended the renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches, S. Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya Award.

Murlidharan has been working relentlessly for the growth and development of the sport in Kerala, besides being an able administrator.

He has coached the likes of Vimal Kumar, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas amongst many other renowned former players.

He has also been a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award given by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in 1996.

For the Dhyanchand Award, BAI has recommended the names of Pradeep Gandhe and Manjusha Kanwar.

Gandhe is a two-time Asian Games bronze medallist while Manjusha is a South Asian Games silver medallist.

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News Network
June 12,2020

New Delhi, Jun 12: The BCCI on Friday called off Indian cricket team's short tour of Zimbabwe in August due to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement was on expected lines after Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Thursday that India's limited overs tour in June-July was postponed indefinitely.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced that the Indian Cricket Team will not travel to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe owing to the current threat of COVID-19," BCCI secetary Jay Shah said in a statement.

"Team India was originally scheduled to travel to the island nation from 24th June 2020 for three ODIs and as many T20Is and to Zimbabwe for a series comprising three ODIs starting 22nd August 2020," Shah added.

The Indian team is yet to resume training and the camp is unlikely to take place before July. The players will take around six weeks to be match-ready.

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